Blood donor iron deficiency: status and management / 中国输血杂志

ABSTRACT

【Objective】 With the development of global voluntary blood donation, people′s awareness of the risk of blood donor iron deficiency is also increasing. The only significant shortcoming of the blood donation currently known is the potential risk of iron deficiency. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent the occurrence of iron deficiency in blood donors. In the past two decades, in the context of the ethics of blood transfusion medicine, following the principles of respecting and non-harmfulness to blood donors has led to the development of interventions on blood donor iron metabolism management based on national and regional levels. In the past decade, the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) had carried out a number of large-scale targeted studies. A systematic study in Canada, covering a period of more than 5 years, also found that iron deficiency in blood donors, especially female blood donors and frequent blood donors, was very common. The latest EU regulations issued in May 2020 make it clear that blood banks must implement appropriate measures to minimize the iron consumption of frequent blood donors. Since the late 1980s in my country, some professionals have begun to study the iron metabolism of blood donors, but so far there is a lack of large-scale research for blood donor iron management. This topic presents the research results of a large-scale survey on the status of iron metabolism of blood donors in Beijing, hoping to provide basic data and decision support for the implementation of iron management interventions for blood donor across the country.